7 Balancing Reciprocating Masses

The dynamic analysis of any mechanism will lead t o the determination of the forces and
moments which are required to sustain the motion. These can be considerable and if not
understood and designed for could result in catastrophe. To reduce or eliminate these forces,
appropriate balancing masses are sometimes added to the mechanism. It is usually not prac-
tical to completely eliminate these forces, but they can often be substantially reduced. To
begin, consider the simple slider crank mechanism in which link 2 rotates a t a constant angular
velocity as shown in Figure 7.1.
Figure 7.1: Attempting to balance a slider crank mechanism
We are interested in only the portion of the forces which are caused by the motion of the
system. The st at i c forces are still t her e but we will assume t hey are small compared
t o those due t o t he i nert i a of the system.
The motion of the crank, link 2, is a constant rotation about a fixed axis, however, the
motion of the connecting rod, link 3, is more complex as it involves both translation and
rotation. To approximately balance this mechanism, the connecting rod is modeled as a rod
in which the distributed mass is lumped as two masses, mB and mc respectively, at each end
B and C. In order for the orignal rod and the model to have the same effect dynamically,
three conditions must be met:
where ZG3 is the moment of inertia of the connecting rod about its center of mass, GQ. b
and c are, respectively, the distances from B and C t o the center of mass of the connecting
rod. That is, the sum of the lumped masses must equal the total mass of the connecting rod
(equation (7.1)), the center of gravity of the lumped masses must be at G3, (equation (7.2))
and the moment of inertia of the lumped masses about G3 must be the same as that of the
connecting rod (equation (7.3)). These three conditions cannot be met with only two variables
7: BALANCING RECIPROCATING MASSES 86
( mB and mc), and as a result only equations (7.1) and (7.2) are usually satisfied. Therefore,
given the mass of a connecting rod, ma, and its geometry, b and c, equations (7.1) and (7.2)
can be solved for the required lumped masses as
where 1 is the overall length of the connecting rod. The original slider crank mechanism is
then modeled by the equivalent mechanism shown in Figure 7.2.
Figure 7.2: Equivalent slider crank mechanism with a lumped mass connect-
ing rod
As the crank AB is rotating at a constant angular velocity, the dynamic force on the
supporting bearing a t A caused by the two rotating masses (mz located a distance d from A
and r n ~ located a distance r from A) is only that due to the normal acceleration component.
Therefore, the dynamic force (mBr + mzd)w2 can be balanced by simply adding a balance
mass, m*, at a position diametrically opposite to the crank such that
where e is the distance from the support bearing A to the balance mass as indicated in
Figure 7.3.
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7: BALANCING RECIPROCATING MASSES 87
Figure 7.3: Balancing the crank of a slider crank mechanism
Note that m* and e can be chosen independently, the only restriction on their values is that
equation (7.6) must be satisfied.
Now the only masses left to deal with are those at t he piston. The secalled effective
reciprocating mass, m,, is defined as
m, = mc + mp,
(7.7)
where mp is the mass of the piston.
The reciprocating motion of m, will cause a force in the direction of the axis of t he
piston. It is this force which we now must determine and attempt to balance. To find the
farce due to m,, the acceleration of the piston is required. The piston acceleration, ac, is
determined by twice differentiating the position vector of the piston. Consider the slider crank
mechanism shown in Figure 7.4.
Figure 7.4: Finding the acceleration of the piston
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7: BALANCING RECIPROCATING MASSES 88
The position vector of the piston (i.e., point C) is
where T is the length of the crank, 1 is the length of the connecting rod and 4 and 6 are the
angles as indicated in Figure 7.4. In particular, note that 8 is measured positive counter-
clockwise f r om the piston axi s with the positive direction of t h e pi st on axis being
out war d f r om the crank shaft at A. Note that 4 is related to 8 by the relationship
which leads to
(7.10)
This expression can be substituted into equation (7.8) and the result differentiated twice with
respect to time t o obtain the "exact" acceleration of the piston. The result is complicated
and, given the fact that we have already approximated the mass distribution of the connecting
rod, we will also introduce an approximation for equation (7.10) in order t o simplify things a
bit. This is done by using the binomial expansion for the expression
which is an infinite series that holds for s2 < 1. With the substitution
2
s =sin 4 = (f) sin2&
and since r is less than 1 and sin 0 cannot exceed 1, the series in equation (7.11) can be used.
Further, since the ratio of the crank length to the connecting rod length found in most engines
and compressors is considerably less than 1 (i.e r/1 << I), s << 1 so that this series will be
truncated after the linear term in s since the higher order terms are very small in comparison
t o 1. As a result, we approximate equation (7.10) as
It is convenient t o introduce the trigonometric identity
1 1
sin2 8 = - - - cos 28,
2 2
so that the approximate expression for the position vector of the piston becomes
Differentiating this twice with respect to time yields the acceleration of the piston
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7: BALANCING RECIPROCATING MASSES 89
where w = is the constant angular velocity of the crank.
I mpor t ant Not e
The angle t9 is measured from the axis of the piston
(positive outward) to t h e crank i n a counterclockwise direction.
Thi s should be permanently et ched somewhere in your onboar d ROM!
The FBD/MAD of the slider crank is shown in Figure 7.5, which neglects the static forces
(i.e., the weights) and assumes that the forces due to the normal acceleration of the crank
and the portion of the connecting rod ( m ~ ) have been balanced by adding a mass m* at an
eccentricity of e as discussed previ~usly. ~ Tc is the torque acting on the crank required to
maintain the constant angular velocity.
Figure 7.5: FBD/MAD of slider crank mechanism
The only mass left to balance is the reciprocating one, m,. Summing moments about
point A on both the FBD and MAD gives
and since there is no net component of acceleration in the vertical direction we get
Note that the external vertical forces and moments acting on the system (consisting of the
crank, connecting rod and piston) balance.
2As a result, the accelerations of these masses (mz,ms,m*) are not shown on the MAD, since they
will cancel out when using Newton's second law. Please be aware, however, that these forces are in fact there.
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7: BALANCING RECIPROCATING MASSES 90
Finally, the third equation of motion in the x direction gives
The force FR is the force which the cr ank pin applies t o t h e crank to maintain the motion
of the piston. The force that the cr ank applies t o t he crank pin is, of course, equal and
opposite so that
where F, is the so-called shaki ng force as it is the force that the machine frame is subjected
to due to the reciprocating motion. When the sign of F, in equation (7.17) is positive, it is
directed out wards along the axis of the piston (outwards positive), or in this case
in the positive x direction. The first term of F,, which is a function of the crank angle 0, is
called the pr i mar y inertia force while the second term, which is a function of twice the
crank angle 20, is called the secondary i nert i a force. It is critical to remember that these
are the forces o n t he cr ank pi n and that they are directed outwards along the axis of the
piston when F, is positive. The magnitude of the forces as well as the direction (in or out
along the axis of the piston) change with the crank angle 0, but the line of action remains
along the axis of the piston.
It is possible to partially balance the shaking force by using a balance weight on the crank.
As a balance weight on the crank is a rotating mass and not a reciprocating one, it is not
possible t o completely balance the shaking force in this way. However, the maximum force
that the machine frame is subjected t o can be reduced using this approach.
Mec E 362 - Mechanics of Machines